Constitutional Development at the Transformation Symposium of the General
Council of the Bar of South Africa, Johannesburg
30 March 2007
Programme Director, Advocate Kessie Naidu
Chairperson of the General Council of the Bar, Advocate Jannie Eksteen
Distinguished members of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am pleased to be part of this symposium on transformation and would like
to thank Advocate Jannie Eksteen, who on your behalf invited me to join you
here this morning and say a few words.
What I am going to say can be summed in three brief points. The first point
is to wish you well in your deliberations; the second is to reaffirm our stated
commitment to work together, which is as between the state and yourself as the
legal profession. Thirdly I wish to urge you to do more in your endeavour to
transform the legal sector for the common good.
At the outset let me declare that I am aware that there are numerous
programmes aimed at transforming the legal sector by various stakeholders. With
regard to both the General Council of the Bar (GCB), as an organisation that
represents the interests of advocates in this country, and the constituent Bar
level, there is an indication that in the past five years the organisation has
grappled with and instituted transformation processes.
It is an undeniable truth that despite the slew of enabling and empowering
legislation that has been enacted since 1994, many black and female legal
professionals continue to face prejudice and marginalisation in the
workplace.
If we are to eliminate prejudice, equality is a value that needs to be
inculcated and shared and upheld by the entire community - men and women
alike.
Institutions like law firms and law societies too need to internalise this
value and make their environments affirming to all those individuals that enter
them. Countenanced by the very same question of equality in 1965, the then
President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, said:
"We seek not just freedom but opportunity - not just legal equity but human
ability - not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and
as a result."
Compare these wise words with what the late Chief Justice Chief Justice
Ismael Mohamed said in Cape Town while addressing a law students' graduation at
the University of Cape Town in 1999:
"This pervasive and continuing legacy of racial inequality is potentially
capable of seriously impairing the fulfilment of our vision to build a single
and united South Africa which is morally just, politically stable and
economically vigorous. It is a legacy which therefore needs urgently to be
addressed and reversed."
Ladies and gentlemen
The Legal Services Charter process is about seeking consensus on the
transformation of the entire legal services sector. The Charter process should
not be seen as an attack on the profession or its independence, but rather an
opportunity to address and reverse this 'pervasive and continuing legacy' that
the late Justice Mohamed referred to. The Charter speaks to the need to focus
on historically disadvantaged individuals and previously marginalised groups
and communities in order to free their potential so that they can participate
and contribute to the building of a nation on the move to prosperity. In a
nutshell, the purpose of the charter is to facilitate transformation of the
legal profession to ensure greater access to justice for all and to develop
strategies for the creation of socio-economic opportunities that will lead to a
better life for all the citizens of this country. Naturally, the legal
profession should be in the forefront of this particular transformation
process.
When we look at the empowerment of the legal profession then clearly it has
to be in the context of, among other things, how we provide professional and
quality services to our people and particularly to the poor and the
marginalised. This goes beyond rendering a minimum of 20 hours pro bono service
per year that many of you are already providing in our communities throughout
the country.
Many of you would remember that during the struggle there were legal clinics
where people, particularly in rural areas, were serviced by, among others,
paralegals. It is important that the profession expand into these rural areas
and provide legal services. However, when we look at providing legal services
for the marginalised and the poor the question to ask is can the profession
continue to operate as they are currently structured? There are serious issues
here around the affordability of legal services.
So there are pertinent issues that we have to address and this is what the
dialogue around the legal charter allows for. The sector working with
government can work together to bring about fundamental transformation for the
benefit of all South Africans. As government we can create certain frameworks,
but it is your interactions with each other and the mechanisms you create that
will help you deal with the challenges. Hopefully this charter process will
enable us to make the meaningful change that we ought to make.
Ladies and gentlemen
This year we have began the process of a conceptual framework for the
transformation of the civil justice system. In time we will approach you for
assistance. I am however certain that one of the outcomes of the charter
process will be to identify gaps in the civil justice system. The department is
in the process of developing a policy framework on ADR. I am happy that the
National Prosecuting Authority, in its 2010 vision seeks to prioritise civic
engagement as well.
Let me conclude by saying that in the past 13 years South Africa has
experienced massive socio economic changes. On a lighter note 13 years ago
Oliver Tambo International Airport was a dingy inadequate facility. I recall
landing at this airport then called Jan Smuts serviced by solemn Afrikaans
speaking, mainly white males. There were no luggage trolleys then. Fast forward
2007 Oliver Tambo Airport is vibrant, colourful, secured and a work class
facility. With regard to the social fabric the vibrancy of the art there is no
denying post 1994 that South Africa is not what it was in the early 1990s.
Since its transformation, the National Research Foundation indicates, that
there are more black and female researchers than there were in the 1980s. Much
younger graduates than in the 1980s, both black and white come out of our
universities. These are the changes sweeping our country. South Africa is
changing for the better. We are urging on towards a normal society. My question
therefore is whether you are satisfied that the pace of transformation of the
legal sector is in sync with the sweeping socio economic transformation in the
country.
In conclusion, I want to urge the GCB and other organisations representing
legal practitioners to actively engage with the draft Legal Services Charter.
The Charter process presents an opportunity for the leadership of the legal
services sector to take leadership and ownership of the transformation process
in the sector.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
30 March 2007
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)
